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Even though a countywide plan to raise money for a stadium has been shelved, and an existing pro team is selling out games in Sacramento, the city of Elk Grove is still interested in attracting a professional soccer team to its city.

Last week, the City Council voted 3-2 to continue negotiating with the Northern California Soccer LLC to explore developing a complex of 16 regulation fields to host games and tournaments, and, if Major League Soccer is interested, an 18,000-seat stadium nearby.

“To me, there’s a lot of potential here,” said City Councilman James Cooper. “Elk Grove was chosen for a reason. There’s always some risk, but the potential is enormous.”

Still, there was some hesitation. City Councilman Steve Detrick said he’d support looking into a complex, but the debt service involved with a stadium was too much, unless Northern California Soccer and the Sacramento Republic FC could work together and make the city a minority player.

The parameters of the deal call for floating bonds to build the soccer complex and stadium, which would be on up to 120 acres, mostly likely in the city’s undeveloped southeast area. The city has set aside $6 million to acquire such land, which might also include a softball complex and other amenities. Constructions costs for the stadium alone would be about $105 million, with the city paying debt service and Northern California Soccer contributing funds toward that, as well as handling any cost overruns and non-financed costs.

But negotiations on those terms may have more twists to come. When City Councilman Patrick Hume asked Elk Grove City Manager Laura Gill if she’d some day look back and consider the current state of negotiations as a good deal, she said, “Not at the moment.”

Because the City Council also would like to have a new civic center and animal shelter, she said, “Frankly, it’s a matter of priorities.”

Ben van der Meer covers real estate, development, construction, transportation and the business of sports for the Sacramento Business Journal.

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